fenv 

HS3 


DT111S36fl  + 


iC 


COERCION  AND  CONCILIATIOK. 


A    SERMON, 

Preached  in    Camp,  at   Centreville,    Virginia,  hy  the 

Eev.  r  slaughter, 

CHAPLAIN    OF    19th    REGIMENT   VIRGINIA    VOLUNTEERS, 

.     Condensed,  by  request,  into  a  Tract  for  the  times. 


KINGS;  ch.  XVIil :    19,  20,     Thus  saith  the  Great  King,  the  King  of  Assyria,  . 
-what  confidence  is  this  wherein  thou  trustest? 

Thou  say  est,  (but  they  are  but  vain  words,)  I  have  counsel  and  strength  for 
the  war.     Now  on  whom  dost  thou  trust  that  thou  rebelUst  against  me  ? 

The  public  mind  is  Jihsorbed  by  one  thought.  That  thought  ex- 
presses itself  in  words  which  we  hear  every  day  as  we  sit  by  our  fire- 
sides, as  we  walk  by  the  way,  in  meetings  of  the  people,  and  in  the 
halls  of  legislation.  These  words  are  Sovereignty,  Allegiance,  Rebel- 
lion, Coercion,  Conciliation,  War  and  Peace.  These  are  no  longer  the 
watch-words  of  Partisans.  They  suggest  questions  of  vital  interest, 
deeply  cortcerning  our  duties  as  Christians  and  as  citizens.  Civil  gov- 
ernment is  a  divine  institution.  "  The  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of 
God."  He  does  not  prescribe  any  particular  form  of  government,  as 
Monarchy,  Aristocracy,  or  Democracy.  He  simply  recognises  govern- 
ment as  a  necessity  for  man  and  enjoins  obedience  to  it,  saying,  "  let 
every  soul  be  subject  to  the  Higher  Powers."  But  as  civil  govern- 
ments are  constantly  revolving  and  appearing  in  new  forms,  each  claim- 
ing to  be  sovereign  and  demanding  our  allegiance,  it  is  sometimes  a 
difficult  question  which  of  the  rivals  is  the  "higher  power"  to  which 
'we  owe  obedience.     In   a   complex  system   of  government  liJte  the 


%  ^ 


J^ 


TTnited  States,  such  questions  were  inevitable.  Accordingly,  politi- 
cians have,  from  its  foundation,  been  divided  into  parties  v^ith  different 
theories  of  the  government.  The  tendency  of  these  parties  being  to 
keep  the  State  and  central  governments  within  their  several  orbits, 
with  only  occasional  departures  from  them,  the  system  revolved  for 
many  years  without  serious  disturbance  ;  but  all  the  time  the  attraction 
of  gravitation  was  growing  weaker,  foreshadowing  the  catastrophe  of 
Disunion. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  some  wise  and  good  men,  finding  themselves 
unexpectedly  amid  the  wreck  of  the  fallen  fabric,  should  have  per- 
plexed themselves  with  the  questions  of  sovereignty  and  allegiance ; 
but  when  the  people  of  each  State,  in  primary  meetings  and  organized 
conventions,  decided  that  the  general  government  had,  by  the  abuse  of 
its  power,  abdicated  its  authority,  the  question  of  allegiance  was  no 
longer  debateable.  By  that  act,  the  State  became  the  "  higher  power," 
even  if  it  had  not  always  been  so,  according  to  the  true  theory  of  our 
government.  Our  duty  as  Christians  is  equally  clear  upon  general 
principles.  The  Scriptures,  rightly  interpreted,  give  no  countenance  to 
the  doctrine  of  passive  obedience,  now  revived  by  the  divines  of  the  North. 
While  the  Scriptures  recognise  government  as  a  divine  institution,  and 
enjoin  obedience  lo  it  as  an  ordinance  of  God,  they  tell  us  in  the  same 
breath  that  legitimate  rulers  are  the  "  ministers  of  God"  for  good  and 
the  revengers  of  wrath  upon  them  that  do  evil,  flence,  when  governments 
become  a  "  terror  to  the  good,"  and  "  a  praise  to  the  evil,"  they  cease  to 
be  legitimate  by  being  destructive  of  the  ends  of  their  creation,  and  it 
becomes  the  right  of  the  people  to  abolish  them,  and  to  institute  in 
their  place  such  new  governments  as  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect 
their  safety  and  happiness. 

For,  acting  upon  these  principles,  consecrated  by  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, and  sealed  with  the  blood  of  our  fathers,  the  tyrant  at  Washing- 
ton, who  has  usurped  all  the  powers  of  government,  has  denounced  us 
as  Rebels,  and  has  invaded  our  soil  with  a  grand  army,  to  coerce  us  into 
submission.  Judgment  has  been  pronounced,  and  he  is  proceeding  to 
execute  the  sentence  by  burning  our  houses,  desolating  our  fields,  con- 
fiscating our  property,  imprisoning  and  murdering  our  people.  He 
has  made  an  idol  of  the  Union,  and  constituted  himself  its  High  Priest, 
inspiring  its  oracular  responses.  While  the  people  of  the  North  fall  down 
and  worship  this  idol,  we  of  the  South  are  lo  be  trampled  under  the 
iect  or  crushed  in  the  embraces  of  the  political  Juggernaut. 


The  dishonoring  word,  rebellion,  has  been  used  to  brand  some  of  the 
lioliest  causes  and  to  stain  some  of  the  purest  names  that  ever  illustrated 
the  pa^^es  of  history.  01'  this,  my  text  furnishes  the  earliest  example.  A 
proud  Kin^i-  of  Assyria  had  invaded  the  territories  of  a  pious  King  of 
Israel  with  a  "grand  army."  His  advent  was  heralded  by  commis- 
sioners who  were  instru^'ted  to  say  to  Hezekiah — "Thus  saith  the  great 
King,  the  King  of  Assyria,  what  confidence  is  this  wherein  thou  trust- 
est  ?  Thou  suyest,  (but  they  are  but  vain  words,)  I  have  counsel  and 
strength  for  the  war.  Now  on  whom  dost  thou  trust,  that  thou  reheUest 
against  me  ?"  Hearken  not  to  Hezekiah  when  he  persuadeth  you, 
Saying,  <'  the  Lord  will  deliver  us."  When  Hezekiah  heard  this  mes- 
sage, he  rent  his  clothes,  and  spread  it  before  the  Lord,  saying,  ''  Oh, 
Lord  (j  od  of  Israel,  which  dwellest  between  the  cherubim,  thorn  art  the  Crod 
of  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth.  Open,  Lord,  thine  eyes  and  see  ;  bow 
down  thine  ear  and  hear  the  words  of  Sennacherib,  which  reproach 
the  living  God.  Now,  thcreibre,  oh  Lord  our  God,  w(!  beseech  thee 
save  us  out  of  his  hand,  that  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  may  know 
that  thou  art  God,  even  thou  only."  God  answered  this  prayer  by  the 
mouth  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  saying,  "  Be  not  afraid  of  the  words  which 
thou  hast  heard  ;  I  will  send  a  blast  upon  him,  and  he  shall  hear  a  ru- 
mor and  return  to  his  ov»n  land,  and  I  will  cause  him  to  fall  by  the 
sword  in  his  own  land.  And  it  came  to  pass  that  night,  that  the  angel 
of  the  Lord  went  out  and  smote  in  the  camp  of  Assyria  one  hundred 
and  eighty-five  thousand  men."  So  the  King  of  Assyria  returned  to 
Nineveh,  and  as  he  was  worshipping  in  the  house  of  his  idol,  his  sons 
smote  him  with  the  sword.  Such  was  the  fate  of  the  first  tyrant  who 
ever  branded  a  holy  cause  with  the  dishonoring  name  of  rthellioit. 

The  American  Revolution  furnishes  another  example  of  the  same 
truth.  Our  fathers  were  denounced  as  rebels,  and  yet,  like  Hezekiah, 
putting  their  trust  in  God,  they  accomplished  a  revolution  which  had 
no  parallel  in  history,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  governments  which 
had  no  model  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  They  fired  a  train  which  has 
been  exploding  ever  since,  overturning  many  a  hoary  despotism,  and 
which  is  destined  to  illuminate,  more  or  less,  every  kingdom  and  peo- 
ple ',  but  the  people  of  the  North  having  repudiated  these  principles, 
and  being  about  to  put  out  /he  light  which  our  ancestors  kindled  upon 
this  continent,  we  of  the  South  are  summoned  by  Providence  to  make 
a  great  struggle  to  keep  alive  upon  our  altars  those  fires  which,  if  now  ex- 
tinguished, may  never  be  re-illumed  on  earth.     If  this  be  rebellion,  it  is 


rebellion  like  that  which  breathed  in  the  prayers  of  the  pious  Hezekiah, 
like  that  which  flowed  in  streams  of  living  flame  from  the  lips  of  Pat-** 
rick  Henry,  and  which  encircled  with  an  undying  wreath  the  brow  of 
Washington,  "who  had  the  all-cloudless  glory  to  free  his  country." 

And  if  we,  like  the  pious  King  of  Israel,  and  our  Washington  and 
Henry's,  humble  ourselves  before  God,  and  implore  his  alliance,  we 
shall  be  successful  in  establishing  our  independence.  Our  boasting 
enemies  rely  upon  their  overshadowing  numbers  and  the  long  range  of 
their  artillery.  They  taunt  us  with  the  saying  of  Napoleon,  that  the 
"  Lord  is  always  on  the  side  of  the  strongest  battalions."  We  reply,  in 
the  language  of  Holy  Scripture,  that  "  the  race  is  n-ot  always  to  the 
swift,  n-or  the  battle  to  the  strong."  If  need  be,  we  will  raze  every 
house,  burn  every  blade  of  grass,  fortify  every  rock,  retire  to  our 
mountains  and  eaves,  and  the  last  intrenchment  of  independence  shall 
be  our  grave. 

I  said  in  the  beginning  that  the  public  mind  was  absorbed  by  these 
thoughts.  I  now  say  that  there  is  danger  lest  we  be  so  absorbed  by 
them  as  to  forget  our  allegiance  to  the  "  King  of  Kings,  and  Lord  of 
Lords."  Whilst  we  may  differ  in  opinion  upon  questions  of  political 
sovei'eignti/  and  allegiance^  and  about  measures  of  coercion  and  concilia- 
tion, there  can  be  no  doubt  about  our  allegiance  to  that  Great  Sover- 
eign of  whose  throne  in  Heaven  this  earth  is  but  the  foo-tstool.  It  is 
he  that  hath  made  us.  In  him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our 
being.  Upon  him  we  depend  for  every  breath  that  we  draw,  and  for 
every  pulse  that  beats.  He  feeds,  clothes,  and  crowns  us  every  day 
with  loving  kindness  and  tender  mercies.  And  yet,  instead  of  acknow- 
ledging him  in  all  our  ways,  and  loving  him  with  all  our  hearts,  our  in- 
gratitude wrings  from  him  the  touching  exclamation — "  Wonder,  oh 
Heavens,  and  be  astonished  earth :  I  have  nourished  and  brought  up 
children,  and  they  have  rebelled  against  me.  The  ox  knoweth  his 
owner,  and  the  ass  his  master's  crib ;  but  Israel  doth  not  know — my 
people  will  not  consider." 

However  we  may  resent  the  imputation  of  being  rebels  against  the 
Federal  Government,  we  are  unquestionably  guilty  of  rebellion  against 
God;  and  never  was  rebellion  so  unprovoked,  and  which  so  richly 
merited  the  sternest  measures  of  coercion.  He  might  have  invaded  the 
earth  with  legions  of  angels;  He  might  have  blasted  it  with  lightnings, 
shaken  it  to  pieces  with  earthquakes,  depopulated  it  with  famine  and 
pestilence,  or  burned  it  with  fire.     But  instead  of  measures  of  coercion, 


he  devised  a  method  of  conciliation  which  was  the  astonishment  of 
men  and  angels.  The  Sovereign  put  off  his  crown  and  came  down 
from  his  throne  in  the  form  of  his  rebellious  servants  upon  an  embassy 
of  peace.  His  advent  was  heralded  by  a  star  and  announced  by  an 
angel  in  the  words,  "Behold,  I  bring  you  glad  tidings  of  great  joy; 
unto  you  is  born  this  day,  in  the  city  of  David,  a  Saviour,  who  is 
Christ  the  Lord.  And  suddenly  there  was  with  the  angel  a  multitude 
of  the  Heavenly  Host,  praising  God,  and  saying,  Glory  to  God  in  the 
Highest;  on  earth,  peace,  (jood  will,  towards  men.  His  life  among 
men  was  a  series  of  miracles  of  mercy.  He  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
blind  to  the  beauties,  and  the  ears  of  the  deaf  to  the  minstrelsy  of  Na- 
ture. He  unlocked  the  mouth  of  the  dumb,  and  let  his  caged  thoughts 
fly  out  on  the  wings  of  song ;  and  to  the  lame  he  gave  the  luxury  of 
leaping  like  the  hart.  In  the  fountain  of  his  heart  there  never  bubbled 
up  one  impure  thought ;  in  his  single  eye  there  was  not  one  single  mote  ; 
from  his  sweet*  lips  there  never  flowed  one  unkind  word.  At  one  mo- 
ment he  "  commanded  the  elements  like  a  God ;"  at  the  next,  he 
melted  in  tears  of  human  sympathy  like  a  woman.  Although  the 
world  was  made  by  him,  he  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head.  As  he 
went  about  doing  good,  he  was  insulted  and  mocked.  In  the  midst  of 
his  sinless  and  sublime  career  of  benevolence,  he  was  arrested  by  the 
thankless  objects  of  his  charity.  With  twelve  legions  of  angels  at  his 
command,  he  permitted  himself  to  be  mocked,  smitten,  scourged,  spit 
upon,  and  led  like  a  "  lamb  to  the  slaughter."  He  was  nailed  to  the 
cross.  He  suffered  agony  so  extreme  that  his  blood  vessels  burst,  and 
his  whole  frame  was  covered  with  drops  of  blood.  With  the  burden  of 
the  sins  of  a  rebellious  world  upon  him,  he  hung  there  a  voluntary 
martyr,  the  blood  flowing  drop  by  drop,  until  he  expired.  By  this 
wonderful  expedient,  all  the  ends  which  would  have  been  answered  by 
the  incarceration  of  all  the  rebellious  race  of  man  in  the  cells  of  perdi- 
tion, have  been  effected.  If  the  Sovereign  of  the  universe  had  per- 
mitted our  rebellion  against  his  Divine  Majesty  to  go  unpunished,  it 
would  have  betrayed  a  pitiful  weakness,  or  a  criminal  indifference  to 
principle,  which  would  have  been  followed  by  universal  anarchy  and 
the  demoralization  and  ruin  of  all  his  subjects.  If  he  had  vindicated 
his  authority  by  th(?  eternal  destruction  of  the  rebels,  it  would  have 
been  an  awful  exhibition  of  his  abhorrence  of  sin,  and  his  determina- 
tion to  punish  it.  But  when,  rejecting  both  those  methodS;  he  adopted 
the  plan  of  manifesting  himself  in  the  flesh,  and  bearing  our  sins  in 


6 

his  own  body  on  the  cross,  he  gave  a  more  impressive  proof  of  his  re- 
spect for  ]-dW,  and  of  his  purpose  to  vindicate  its  violated  majesty, 
than  if  he  had  shut  up  the  whole  race  of  rebels  in  hell.  But  this  was 
not  the  only  effect  of  his  scheme.  It  laid  open  to  the  eyes  of  the  un- 
grateful rebel  the  heart  of  his  Sovereign.  Coercion  hardens  the  heart. 
Conciliation  softens  it.  And  when  the  rebellious  sinner  sees  all  the 
forms  of  terror  and  the  ministers  of  justice  that  had  been  haunting  his 
guilty  conscience  meet  and  melt  into  "  a  form  of  love  dying  for  his  res- 
cue/' his  heart  of  stone  relents ;  he  is  subdued,  not  by  power,  but  by 
love.  In  his  Sovereign  he  recognizes  his  father,  and  throwing  down 
the  weapons  of  his  rebellion,  he  cries,  "  Father,  I  have  sinned  against 
Heaven  and  before  Thee,  and  am  not  worthy  to  be  called  Thy  son.'' 
Thus  at  the  cross  do  *'  meroy  and  truth  meet  together — righteousness 
and  peace  kiss  each  other." 

Fellow  soldiers,  the  enemies  of  our  country  are  not  our  only  ene- 
mies; they  can  only  kill  the  body.  But  our  bodies,  upon  whose  nur- 
ture and  adorning  wc  spend  so  much  dme  and  so  much  money,  are  not 
all  of  us.  There  is  a  mysterious  principle  within  us,  of  which  the  body 
is  but  the  tabernacle.  This  principle  is  the  soul,  and  the  soul  has  its 
enemies.  These  enemies  are  not  flesh  and  blood,  but  spiritual  princi- 
palities, powers,  and  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  the  world.  Of  these  ene- 
mies the  Devil  is  commander-in-chief,  who  goes  about  sometimes  as  a 
'^  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour,"  and  sometimes  in  the  se- 
ducing garb  of  "  an  angel  of  light."  His  aids  and  allies  are  the 
world  and  the  flesh.  The  earth  is  the  theatre  of  a  grand 
contest  between  these  opposing  forces,  and  every  human  heart  is  a 
battle-field,  on  which  victories  are  sometimes  won  more  glorious  than 
any  that  are  painted  on  the  pages  of  the  historian.  In  the  7th  chap- 
ter of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  St.  Paul  has  drawn  a  graphic  picture 
of  the  battles  of  which  the  human  heart  is  often  the  scene,  which  drew 
from  one  of  the  combatants  the  affecting  cry,  "  Wretched  man  that  I 
am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  this  body  of  death  ?"  followed  by  the 
exultant  shoyt,  "  Thanks  be  to  God,  who  giveth  us  the  victory  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  In  this  warfare,  "carnal"  weapons  are  of  no 
avail.  But  the  Divine  Grovernment  has  not  left  us  defenceless.  Its 
supplies  never  fail.  It  provides  a  complete  suit  of  perfect  armor  for 
all  its  soldiers.  The  armor  of  God  consists  of  sandals  for  the  feet, 
"  girdles  of  truth  for  the  loins,"  swords  of  the  spirit  and  shields  of  faith 
for  the  hands,  breastplates  of  righteousness,  and  helmets  of  hope  for  the 


head.  Clothed  in  this  armor,  you  will  bo  able  to  stand  against  '4he 
wiles  of  the  Devil,"  and  to  "quench  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked." 

Fellow  soldiers,  as  a  recruiting  officer  of  the  great  Captain  of  our 
salvation,  I  come  to  enlist  soldiers  for  this  war.  To  this  end  I  unroll 
before  your  eyes  the.  "banner  of  the  cross,"  the  one-starred  flag — the 
flag  of  Bethlehem — and  call  for  volunteers.  God  never  drafts;  he 
will  accept  none  but  volunteers.  Will  you,  who  responded  so  promptly 
to  the  call  of  your  country,  and  prefer  death  to  subjugation  by  a  civil 
tyrant,  refuse  to  rally  round  the  banner  of  the  cross,  and  battle  for  free- 
dom from  the  bondage  of  Satan.  "  Thinkest  thou  there  is  no  tyranny 
but  that  of  blood  and  tears  ?"  The  despotism  of  sin,  the  weakness  and 
the  wickedness  of  vice,  produce  ten  thousand  tyrants  whose  delegated 
cruelty  surpasses  the  worst  act  of  any  civil  tyrant. 

Oh,  why  is  it  that  an  enterprise  of  patriotism  presents  itself  to  your 
imaginations,  beaming  with  so  much  beauty  and  so  touches  your  hearts, 
when  a  mission  of  mercy,  like  that  of  Christ  to  tliis  rebellious  earth, 
awakens  no  emotion  ? 

Soldiers  of  Christ  arise, 

And  put  your  armor  on  ; 
Stronjj;  in  the  streniijth  which  -God  supplier, 

Thro'  His  eternal  Son. 
Strong  in  the  Lord  of  Hosts, 

And  in  Ilis  mighty  power. 
Who  in  the  strength  of  Jesus  trusts, 

Is  more  than  conqueror. 

Stand,  then,  in  Ilis  great  might, 

With  all  His  strength  endued, 
And  take  to  arm  you  for  the  iight 

The  panoply  of  God. 
That  having  all  things  done, 

And  all  your  conflicts  past, 
You  may  behold  your  victory  won, 

And  stand  complete  at  last. 


My  times  are  in  thy  harid,  Psalm  xxxi.  15. 

1  Sovereign  Ruler  of  the  skies ! 
Ever  gracious,  every  wise  I 

All  my  times  are  in  thy  hands — 
All  events  at  thy  command. 

2  Times  of  sickness,  times  of  health  ; 
Times  of  penury  and  wealth; 
Times  of  trial  and  of  grief; 
Times  of  triumph  and  relief; 

3  Times  the  tempter's  power  to  prove, 
Times  to  taste  a  Saviour's  love ; 
All  must  come,  and  last,  and  end, 
As  shall  please  my  heavenly  Friend. 

4  Plagues  and  deaths  around  me  fly; 
Till  he  bids  I  cannot  die  ; 

Not  a  single  shaft  can  hit, 
Till  the  God  of  love  sees  fit. 

5  0  thou  gracious,  wise  and  just, 
In  thy  hands  my  life  I  trust; 
Have  I  somewhat  dearer  still  ? 
I  resign  it  to  thy  will. 

6  Thee,  at  all  times,  will  I  bless; 
Having  thee  I  all  posses; 

1  can  ne'er  be;eaved  be, 
Since  I  cannot  part  with  thee. 


MACFARLANE  &  FERGUSSON,  PRINTERS. 


HoUinger  Corp. 
pH8.5 


